REPORT OF TRAINING AT THE ROTARY PEACE CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CHULALONKORN FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2011.

The training commenced on the 13^th January 2011 at 9:00am by the official welcoming of participating fellows by the Director (Prof. Surichai Wun’gaeo) of the Rotary Peace Center, Chulalongkorn University. This was followed by the introduction of the Center staff and the participating fellows by the Deputy Director, Jenn Weidman. The introduction which was very detailed gave all the fourteen participating fellows from different countries and nationalities a sense of humor and satisfaction as after that all were at home with each other. The involvement of all the center staff in the orientation makes the programme more of an all encompassing matter coupled with the simplistic and liberal leadership capability of the Deputy Director. The immediate payment of the monthly stipend for the month of January to all fellows on the day the programme commenced was another good gesture to behold and worthy of commendation.

The second day of the training was dedicated to Individual Conflict Presentation (ICP) by all the fellows with 8 minutes allowed for each fellow to make an ICP on the area of conflict he or she works with. This opened the floor for interactions and discussions. My presentation was made on ‘Jos Crisis: Man’s Inhumanity to Man’ during which I highlighted the issues surrounding the conflicts and my involvements as well as ongoing attempts and efforts aimed proffering solutions.

The main training started by featuring a distinguish scholar of International repute in person of Professor Tom Woodhouse who is the Academic Director of Rotary Center for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution at the University of Bradford, UK. The module was co-presented with the founding Chair and CEO of Mindanao Commission on Women and the Convener of Mothers of Peace, Mrs. Irene M. Santiago. Their session which lasted for 5 days focused on the concepts and values of peace and conflict studies. Their wealth of experience in Peace and conflict studies exposed the fellows on various state of the art theories in conflict resolutions in which different classic models and theories were examined in a highly interactive sessions. These sessions were characterized by moments of reflections and self examination of all the participants. Other areas that were extensively dealt with by the scholars are, The Nature and types of conflict, Root causes of conflict and the roles of Gender in conflict resolution.

Saturday 22^nd January 2011 was a time of moving around the city of Bangkok, during which we had the opportunity of looking at most tourist attraction such as a temple of the Emerald Buddha(the prime jewel of Bangkok), Temple of the Recycling Buddha (Wat Pho) and the Royal Barges Museum. The last place to visit was the Wat Arun which is the royal temple dedicated to the 2^nd reign of Chakkri Dynasty. The team also enjoyed the long-tailed boat cruise.  This exercise did not only end with seeing the Bangkok town but was also an opportunity to build interaction and intimacy among the fellows.

Monday 12^th January 2011 to Thursday 15 January 2011 saw us learning the act of conflict analysis in which we were exposed to the necessary techniques in analyzing conflicts under the practically oriented teaching skills of Dr. Erik Melander an Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University in Sweden.  His session was categorized into four subheadings with each treated on each day. These include; i) The Context of Conflict Analysis, Human Security and Humanitarian Law. ii) Overview of Conflict Analysis: Dynamics and Scenarios. iii) Case Study: Conflict Mapping Local Analysis Practicum. iv) Trends in Armed Conflict and Peace Building. After his session, we did not need any body to tell us that our earlier Individual Conflict Presentation were not only limited but grossly unprofessional as it lack the basic details required for reporting and the analysis of conflicts in such a way that the core issue will be addressed with a view to proffering workable solutions. The session prepared us also to write an assignment analyzing the various conflicts in our localities and these skills were quite helpful writing the assignment.

In an effort to asquint us with conflict situation in and around our host nation (Thailand), Jenn Weidman took good part of Thursday 27^th to give us the history of nations surrounding Thailand such as a Myanmar and Cambodia as well as other boarder conflict cases between Thailand and Cambodia. To give the fellows the balanced view on the Political Conflict in Thailand, three political activist and academia from the University of Chulalongkorn in Persons of Asistant Professor S. Horachaikul, Assistant Professor Dr. Suda Rangkupan and Dr. Pitch Pongsawat were invited to the center to give lectures on their individual perspective on the ongoing political conflict in Thailand. This was quite enlightening and challenging to me as a person as it gave me the clear understanding of dynamics of the Thai politics.

Sunday 30 January was a fascinating welcoming and orientation organized for the fellows in the Rotary Center in Thailand under the very amiable moderation of PDG, Dr. Saowalak Rattanavich. This time around, it was a great opportunity of meeting the ‘who is who’ of Rotary in Thailand. The PRID, Nosareth Pathmanand who was the key personalities at the orientation gave a very educating and enlightening presentation on the activities and structure of the Rotary International. It was also an opportunity for all fellows to meet their Host Counselors.  My encounter with my very hospitable Host Counselor in person of PDG, Siri Eiamchamroonlarp was quite interesting as he made me feel at home and have a sense of humor.

The last is day of the month (31^st January) was a commencement of the 3^rd module of the training which is aimed at addressing conflict resolution and techniques required for mediation by Mr. Jan Sunoo of the ADR/International Programms, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and Mr. Stephen Kessler of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. This session is still ongoing and so far it is quite revealing and exposing to essentials skills that will required in conflict resolution.

On an overall assessment the training offers me the opportunity of learning the basic skills in addressing conflicts and I hope to make the most of the opportunity in becoming part of the stakeholders in peace building processes in my locality.